The present invention relates to a scent delivery system used to trick a fish into biting a very sharp hook.
Sport fishing inherently requires that a fish bite down on a hook so that the fish can be reeled in. Fish hooks, however, are not something at which fish would normally be inclined to bite. Therefore, the savvy fisherman will disguise the hook to appear to be something a little less foreboding i.e., something other than a hook, and more preferably something the fish might want to eat. Traditionally, this could simply involve placing a worm or other live bait on the hook. Though live bait can be effective, it has drawbacks. First, live bait has a tendency to slip off the hook, particularly when trolling. Second, live bait usually won't survive a fish bite, whether or not the fish actually gets hooked in the process. Thus live bait must be replaced repeatedly when fishing.
One alternative to live bait is a fishing lure, typically of plastic or metal construction and generally of a shape that simulates something a fish might eat, a smaller fish for instance. A fishing lure will usually have one or more hooks dangling from it so as to retain any fish unfortunate enough to have bitten the lure. Existing fishing lures are often shiny and/or designed to spin when moving relative to water to visibly emulate the behavior of something the fish might enjoy eating. Unlike live bait, fishing lures do not slip away from the line when trolling and hold up rather well in the mouth of a fish, even one with teeth like pike or grayling.
One problem with lures, however, is that fish have a relatively refined sense of smell which they use to detect and pursue food. Whereas live bait will emit an aroma that attracts fish from a distance, a lure will typically not. Finding this sacrifice unacceptable, the technologically savvy fisherman will use a scent dispenser in conjunction with the fishing lure to attract a distant fish towards the lure. Once the fish is in close proximity to the lure, the fish will reflexively bite at it when it flashes or spins.
Most existing fish scent dispensers are designed to release a liquid fish scent into the water surrounding the lure. For example, the scent dispensers exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,321,906 and 4,602,453 use inflatable bladders to contain pressurized liquid scent material such as fish oil. When fishing, liquid scent is released into the water by its internal pressure through a narrow opening to trail downstream of the lure, attracting fish. Such inflatable bladders may be attached to a fishing line in proximity to the lure or may be contained in the lure itself, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,170,579 and 4,888,907. Unfortunately, these existing types of scent dispensers have several disadvantages. First, relying upon the internal bladder pressure to release the liquid scent, they tend to initially release too much scent, but later too little scent into the water. Second, the liquid scent in the bladder does not last a very long time, and the bladders are difficult to refill with scent, in some cases requiring injection with a hypodermic needle. Finally, these scent dispensers require cleaning after each use to prevent the liquid scent material from clogging the narrow opening as it dries.
Alternative existing scent dispensers use chums, or solid scent material that trails a lure or bait in water. These chums tend to last longer than the aforementioned bladder-type dispensers, but do not allow for the dispensed scent to be adjusted. Instead, the amount of scent released is proportional to the speed at which the chum is moving through water, which may not be ideal.
What is desired, therefore, is an improved dispenser for releasing scent into water when fishing.